Slaughter on the streets of Syria: 45 killed as tanks storm rebel city of Hama

Syrian army tanks firing shells and machine guns stormed the city of Hama on Sunday, killing at least 45 civilians in a move to crush demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Residents said they woke up to machine guns being fired at random wounding dozens of people.

‘Troops entered Hama at dawn today,’ a resident told The Associated Press by telephone.
‘We woke up to this news, they are firing from their machine guns randomly and there are many casualties.’

The government forces began their assault on the city, scene of a 1982 massacre, at dawn after besieging it for nearly a month.

Citing hospital officials, the Syrian Observatory for human rights said the death toll was likely to rise, with dozens badly wounded. The organisation said it had the names of four victims, but that more bodies had yet to be identified.